eCommerce Gives Boost to Indian Smartphone Market in 2015Q2 : IDC

According to IDC, 26.5 million smartphones were shipped to India in the second quarter of 2015 – up 44% from 18.4 million units a year ago. The overall market for mobile phones in India shrunk by 6% year-on-year. A total of 59.4 million units were shipped in 2015Q2 as compared to 63.2 million units shipped in the second quarter of 2014.

The growth in the smartphone market was helped by vendors using online retail or eTail to penetrate the market. Companies like Lenovo and Xiaomi used eCommerce and flash sales in India to expand their presence.

In the second quarter of 2015, Chinese vendors have tripled their shipments YoY in India and doubled quarter-on-quarter (QoQ). Lenovo, Xiaomi, Huawei and Gionee alone accounted for 12% of the total smartphone market in the second quarter, a figure that’s doubled from a year ago.

“Key to the success of the Chinese vendors has been popular flash sales through online players such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon. At the same time, they also focused on bringing more 4G phones at affordable $100-150 price points which is left unattended by Indian and global vendors,” said Kiranjeet Kaur, Research Manager with IDC.

Image Source

Samsung, Micromax and Intex took a combined 51% share of the market. Korean electronics firm, Samsung remained at top in the Indian smartphone market with 23% market share, despite experiencing a QoQ shipment decline while growing shipments on a YoY basis. Micromax held second position with 17% of the market share and experienced 60 percent quarter-over-quarter growth, followed by Intex which took 11% of the market by selling devices for less than $100.